FOCUS
Risks of waste
In the first of a two part focus,Adrian Simmonds analyses fire suppression in waste handling, specifically elements posing risks to the industry
I
NSTALLATION OF fi xed fi re suppression systems has become a hot potato for the waste industry in recent years. This is in the face
of pressure from regulators and insurers who, along with the operators, have been witness to a spike in the number of fires occurring at waste handling sites since the ‘noughties’ – both indoors and outdoors. There has been a signifi cant growth in the impact of waste fi res on the local community, the environment and the business continuity of the operator. These impacts often cause much wider disruption than any insurance recovery can compensate for. The primary area of concern is the indoor and outdoor waste piles in which fires are most frequently initiated. Another relatively high frequency source of fi res is mobile plant such as loading shovels, excavators, grab cranes, clamp trucks and fork lift trucks. In addition, the sorting machinery used in materials recycling facilities can have a very high asset value, which means that a fi re on this equipment can lead to signifi cant disruption to the business as well as multi million pound asset replacement costs. The traditional approach of installing roof
level automatic sprinklers provides catastrophe protection for the building and the overall
32 NOVEMBER 2018
www.frmjournal.com
infrastructure, but does not necessarily save the equipment or the waste piles in a fi re. This is not to say that roof sprinklers can’t be effective, because they can; there have been numerous cases in waste handling sites where roof sprinklers have operated early and successfully contained a fire. However, there have also been instances
where sprinklers at roof level have not operated until a fi re has grown almost beyond the point of control. In some cases, the roof sprinklers have not operated at all, despite the ongoing fire below. This article explores the benefi ts of localised
fi re suppression in typical waste handling sites under the heading of protecting the assets; while the second article – to be published next month – will deal with the protection of waste piles and mobile plant. The focus here is on transfer stations and material recycling facilities (MRFs) – the article does not extend to energy recovery facilities or specialist waste handling/treatment facilities.
Protecting the assets
Tackling fi res on, within or around key items of equipment and infrastructure means detecting
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